Children of Appalachia
The Children of Appalachia are less of a united group, state, or faction, and more a phenomenon that explains the relative unusually high presence of groups of teenagers and very young adults along the east coast of North America. As many survivors of the Infinite Dominion occupation know, nobody under the age of 18 made it to becoming protection center citizens. It's known that the Dominion rounded up and took away children and teenagers of all ages, but as for their fates, much of that is rumor and speculation. However, one accident would occur that spared thousand of children, ages 1-17, from whatever likely nefarious plans the Dominion had for them. In the very early days of occupation, shortly after the Great Rift War, the Dominion leaned heavily on pre-existing human infrastructure, particularly in the form of railroads and transport trains. Taking on the monumental task of relocating the remaining part of earths population meant the Dominions attentions were stretched in many different directions all at the same time. The Dominion also had to work at creating technologies and assets that were compatible for human use, but also powered by and composed of the Dominions preferred energy sources and building materials. The result of these factors were what one might describe as roughly a month of "occupational growing pains." Several miscalculations would occur in this period. One such accident was the temporary collapse of the Dominions energy grid. The Dominions first and largest method of mass human transport was hastily built Dominion alloy trains, driven by an autonetic drone, but largely automated and connected to a simple shared energy grid which ran alongside the rails themselves. For the Dominion, the idea of a "train" and railroad tracks was a new field of technology for them, and thus, they weren't yet perfect in it's use. Perhaps in a move of careless haste or hubris not expecting any form of human resistance, this early transport system was quite vulnerable to sabotage. However, the system would sabotage itself. A south-bound train in the state of Virginia was loaded heavily with hundreds of sealed protective pods, each housing a single person within. These Dominion alloy trains moved faster and were more heavy than was conventional for the particular stretch of rail-line to endure in the past. To make matters worse for the Dominion, this area was tasked to be shut down and inspected for structural integrity issues by the Virginian state government - but the Great Rift War ensured that never occurred, and the Dominion found no record of such. Unaware, inexperienced, or simply uncaring of the potential for disaster, the Dominion proceeded to use these rails. The result was a rail-way bridge gave way, and collapsed, also severing the simple energy grid. The train in Virginia tumbled down into a small ravine below, and the rail lines connecting all the way to Maine were thrown in temporary disarray, with trains halting completely, or worse, unable to switch tracks at the proper time and crashing into other objects on the railroad. It would be several hours, perhaps days, until this issue was remedied, and the trains recovered or returned to operational. The sound of the crashing trains, breaking bridges, and the squealing smashing of steel caught the attentions of several communities of "Mountain men." For decades, long before the Dominion, secluded communities of foresters had inhabited the Appalachian mountains. The Dominion Occupation almost went unnoticed by them, and in the grand scheme of things, affected them little. By chance, or perhaps in planned effort to somehow combat this new "alien evil" they knew so little of, these people took notice of the stopped trains and wrecks, and each soon discovered the contents of the trains cargo. For reasons of their own, the mountain men, and all the dozens of isolated Appalachia communities they knew, took it upon themselves to shelter these children. From Maine, all the way south to Tennessee, this particular group of children stolen by the Dominion were given shelter across the Appalachian mountains. Some of the few who even know of it think the accident was no accident at all, and actually a planned strike by the community of mountain folk that somehow kept in touch with each other to coordinate such a feat - but this seems unlikely. Regardless, the children grew up reflecting the peculiar culture of the groups of people that took them in. The ones that didn't already know how to read and write often never learned. Their language developed into a muddied mimicry of English, with accents as thick as the pine groves that sheltered them. They learned to be hunters, loggers, fishermen, seamstresses, cooks, farmers, alcohol brewers and trackers. Some children, depending on their age, picked new names for themselves. These were often based on random objects, animals, and things they found funny or interesting. Others were named by their "adoptive" mountain dwelling parents, often obtaining biblical names. In the present day, many of these individuals have grown old enough to venture from their mountain communities and explore the world. Many purposefully avoid the New Union and Terra Concord, knowing little about either faction, but inherently distrusting the appearance of either group. In contrast, the Norguard Confederacy has been able to lure larger numbers of these individuals down from the mountain, as the Norguard is more "normal" in appearance and tends to attract all kinds of outcasts within it's borders. For those patient enough to tolerate this reserved, uneducated, and fiercely independent group, they often turn out to be highly talented scouts, marksmen, and trackers. It would be easy to write them all off as dim-witted, but many sharp minds exist within the Appalachian children - they simply never had access to higher learning. Despite the years of isolation and secluded nature that kept them safe during occupation - many are driven to venture out into the new world and attempt to reclaim a life nearly taken from them.